Highlight Reel

Monday Night Football with the Dallas Cowboys

Last night, I attended my first “real” NFL game ever. In case you wondering what a “fake” NFL game is, I’ve attended two Pro Bowls and the Hall of Fame game, neither of which counted for anything other than pride/practice so I don’t consider those legit outings.

My company just happens to have 4 season tickets to the Cowboys inaugural season at Cowboys Stadium and last night, those tickets were mine. William and I thought long and hard about who to bring to this exciting event with our two extra tickets and decided that it was only fitting that we bring the men that brought us into this world and gave us a love of the game, our dads. My dad drove in all the way from Amarillo, TX to attend the big event with us and Mr. Mark Spencer came in from Tyler to share the evening as well.

From the mega-huge-monstrous-enormous HD video screen to the very posh “Cowboys Club,” the new stadium makes you feel like only the Highland Park elite are Cowboys fans, until the fan cam scans the crowd and reveals the same drunk, tatted up couple in Romo jerseys and foam cowboy hats dancing uncontrollably in the mid-upper deck.

Here’s a truly horrible picture of William and I down the aisle from our seats…did I mention that they were 2nd row on about the 47 yard line? Oh, yeah, they were. I am now spoiled for all future Cowboy events where I have to sit anywhere but on the 1st or 2nd row.



The afore-mentioned video board…this turned out to actually be kind of distracting. When you’re sitting that close to the players, you would think you’d rather watch the action going on right in front of you rather than up above you on the screen. My dad said once he caught himself watching the screen and then looking down at the field for the replay…oops.

We were actually pictured on this board sometime during the 2nd quarter for about 5 seconds. We appropriately smiled and waved and watched ourselves on the giant screen.


A couple of little offensive plays (these were probably not the 2 that actually resulted in a gain). Despite the lack of offensive charisma, the Cowboys won their first regular season game in the new stadium 21-7, and we were there to witness history.




Just a note to fans planning to attend games in the future, please allow 2.5 hours to get back to Dallas from the stadium if you stay until the end of the game. Arlington and the organization could really use a good civil engineer to figure out an exit strategy for the 100,000 fans that attend games. Anyone know where I could find one of those?

Oink Oink

This past week I have had the great privilege of suffering through the swine flu. There have been a lot of questions and concerns about this so I thought I’d address some of those for my blog readers today. I hope this puts everyone’s minds at ease about the truths of this almost “pandemic” illness.

Question Number 1: Do you really have the swine flu?
Answer: Yes.

Number 2: How do you know it’s not the regular flu?
Answer: Because my doctor said “You have the H1N1 flu, otherwise known as swine flu.” He’s a doctor so I took that as a pretty solid diagnosis.

Number 3: Have you started oinking/grown a tail/is your nose looking smooshed? (All these questions were mainly presented by my boss)
Answer: My cough sounds a little bit like an oink sometimes/not that I can see/yes, it’s a little smooshed but that could come from laying face down in my pillow for 7 days.

Number 4: What’s the difference in the swine flu and regular flu?
Answer: Well I think it’s a little more contagious and harder to get rid of…but really I think people are just more afraid of you so you get more time off and less interaction with people.

But, in all honesty, it’s been a pretty nasty week and I hope none of you contract this illness. (If you do, you cannot blame me because I was under complete quarantine the whole time I was contagious. William would be the only possible person who might get it from me.) The symptoms started last Tuesday and today is the first day I’ve really been up and moving around the house. My boss had been really supportive and insisted that I work from home this week and not come back until next Monday. That has really helped as the strength comes back slowly after being sick.

MVP in my life this past week was definitely William. Even though he banished me to the downstairs guest room and forced me to carry a can of Clorox wipes with me at all times (“please wipe off everything you touch”), he was an amazing caretaker and nurse. He made me food every night and came home from work for lunch most days to make sure I was drinking fluids and eating when I could. He also made sure I was entertained and had our friend Russell drop off a sack full of movies and TV on DVD to keep me occupied during the down time. (Because of his kindness, I’d like to insert a free plug for Russell’s store, EntertainMart. This kind of advertising usually costs big time. For all your entertainment needs at lower prices, check out one of their 6 locations across the country. http://www.entertainmart.com/).

I would also like to put in a plug here for hand washing, disinfecting, and keeping yourself away from the general population when you’re sick. I have friends with confirmed cases of strep, mono, and flu. Please do your community a favor and stay home when you’re sick. Oh, and get a flu shot. Believe me, it’s worth it.